With the festive season almost upon him, Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson is winding down at work and gearing up socially - kicking off Christmas with a week of sex and drugs in Amsterdam. There are irritating flies in the ointment, though, including a missing wife, a nagging cocaine habit, a dramatic deterioration in his genital health, a string of increasingly demanding extra-marital affairs. The last thing he needs is a messy murder to solve.Still it will mean plenty of overtime, a chance to stitch up some colleagues and finally clinch the promotion he craves. But as Bruce spirals through the lower reaches of degradation and evil, he encounters opposition - in the form of truth and ethical conscience - from the most unexpected quarter of all: his anus. In Bruce Robertson, Welsh has created one of the most corrupt, misanthropic characters in contemporary fiction , and has written a dark, disturbing and very funny novel about sleaze, power, and the abuse of everything. At last, a novel that lives up to its name.

customer Reviews

5Welsh on top form again

Obviously, if you didn't like Trainspotting, chances are you're not going to like this. This is vintage Welsh: yes, more Scottish jargon; yes, more explicit sex scenes; yes, more shocking violence and yes, plenty of drugs. If the above are all part of the things you loved about whatever book you've read before, then you're going to love this one.

A more linear narrative than Trainspotting and The Acid House, with references to characters from other stories, this is a very dark and disturbing book and very, very funny. Bruce Robertson is a monster of a character and having the book mostly through his perspective can be a very frightening experience.

There are some very disturbing scenes in the book and chances are it won't be for everyone, but this is definitely one of his best books, written in another signature only-Welsh-can-do-it style (even a tapeworm has its own narrative, how tripped out is that?) he creates a magnificently complex character in Bruce with a daring twist and beautifully bleak ending.

2Massive welsh fan

I'm a huge fan of Irvine Welsh and have just finished reading Flith, must say I wasn't too taken by this one.It does display his amazing talents to create a character which you can not only picture but smell and feel too. Bit of a let down in comparison to the likes of porno and the bedroom secrets...

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